scholarly journals Environment, poverty and the steady state economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Lianos

Environmental degradation and inequality of income and wealth are two major global problems at the present time. This paper suggests that a steady state economy offers solutions for both problems. It argues that if the world population is drastically reduced and remains constant at a low level ecological balance can be achieved and, at the same time, income distribution will be greatly improved. The basis of this argument is that a smaller population will reduce the use of natural resources for production and consumption and at the same time reduce the supply of labor and thus increase wages. Also, a brief review of the idea of the steady state economy from the ancient philosophers to modern writers is provided.

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Lianos

This paper reviews briefly the idea of a steady state economy from the ancient times to the present. It discusses some of the suggestions made by H. Daly in his model of a steady state economy and particularly the idea of a stable population. It suggests that population must be stable at a level that is compatible with ecological equilibrium. That level is about three billion people and therefore the world population must be reduced drastically. This can be achieved if each family is allowed to have less than two children. To achieve this reduction of population this paper proposes the creation of an international market for human reproduction rights.


ICR Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-422
Author(s):  
Shahino Mah Abdullah

Energy plays an important role in our lives. It comes in several forms which can be utilised to keep people warm during cold weather, provide foods, improve transportation, and increase productivity. When energy is utilised efficiently, it brings great comfort to our lives. However, energy consumption has been increasing in recent decades as the world population keeps growing. According to a United Nation (UN) report, the current world population of 7.4 billion is projected to increase by 1 billion over the next 10 years and reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Besides population, the standards of living for many people in developing countries is increasing, which in turn results in growing energy demand.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 81-105
Author(s):  
Hrvoje Cvijanović

This paper examines the ways in which modern philosophical and literary accounts have shaped and produced European modernity. The author looks at the myth as such, but especially in the quest, justifications, and narratives provided by Rousseau, Locke, and Daniel Defoe, among all. They are seen as grounding examples of modern mythmaking in which the concept of savagery has been uplifted and opposed to cultivating and civilizational practices, and used as a conceptual axis for articulating ideas of progress, self-preservation, and the state of nature. It is shown that modern bourgeois power of mythmaking through writing cannot be detached from racial bourgeois-capitalist worldmaking, or from the production and reproduction of racial capitalism – a structural and historical nexus of capitalism and racial oppression. The article concludes that by perpetuating myths of rational individuals rationally organizing the world, cultivating the wilderness, and enjoying freedom of production and consumption, European bourgeoisie conceptualized and constructed a fictional framework of modern man set within the mechanism of the modern state and capitalist production, that legitimized the predatory socio-economic practices based on harvesting social and natural resources, the same practices held by global capitalism as well.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 70-80
Author(s):  
R. Şeminur Topal

At the beginning of the new millennium, looking through national / international perspectives and analysing different projections and conclusions, investigation of future, interrogation of systems and ourselves will be useful. It is necessary to talk about the past and the future in a global perspective when the world population is more than 6 billion and expected to increase around another 2 billion in the next 25 years. Natural resources are limited instead of increased population in the world around. However the growth of technology and communication level, there are so many hazard factors in the life for many developing countries. Simply maintaining current levels of food availability will require rapid production increases without destroying natural resources. Having a good nutritional status for all human societies, everybody must have to think “us” as instead of “myself”. The world has expanded beyond the global village to include the global market where there is ever‐increasing mobility of capital, labour and goods, in the recent years. Globalisation is not only a question of size, but also of kind: it is inextricably linked to privatisation. It stimulated major economic restructuring in both developed and developing countries, and has greatly changed the balance of public and private sectors. Mostly agricultural production for export is seen as one of the driving forces of development. Harmonisation through the setting of international regulations and standards still needs considerable efforts. So that potential benefits and defects, the outcomes of globalisations are mixed and also demographic and production relationship correlations are changed dramatically. In the world natural food and water sources have been reduced, when population increased speedily and environments pollution has become dramatic. In spite of urbanisation the majorities are in rural areas. The information revolutions and scientific / technological challenges also created a major difference between developed and developing countries. Genetically modified organisms and foods are the most important question at this time in the world. Again the differences about sharing chance of the sources between rich and poor countries are another important inequity. “Food insecurity” means that “lacking access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food and are therefore not consuming enough for an active and healthy life”. There are so many reasons for the unavailability of food, inadequate purchasing power or inappropriate utilisation at household level. The linkages between demographic motivations, poverty and environmental degradation, their relationships and implications according to the development programs and planning will try to be discussed in this article. Nutritional and energy requirements, some nutritional deficiencies, reflections on the commercial life, food security programs, and better information systems on “Food Insecurity and Vulnerability (FIVIMS)”, “National Nutrition Country Profiles (NFC)”, farseeing of UN's, Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be summarised. Also it is planned to make small statistical tour on the national and international past, status, and near future on problems and expected reflections, some of the solution offers are improving strategies and increasing consciousness to consumers, developments of health ‐ agriculture — education politics will be summarised. Governmental responsibilities and financial supports will try to be discussed. Finding food, improving life, preparing a better world must be a primer responsibility for all countries, governments, sectors and for everybody in this millennium.


Author(s):  
Ibragimov A.J. ◽  
◽  
Karimov Bakhtyor ◽  

Protecting the environment and flora is great vital importance to humanity. It is unfortunate that people misuse nature and negatively affect it. In the territory of our country, as a result of large-scale development of natural areas, the violation of the ecological balance, there is a risk of depletion of plant species, even the world-famous tulips, onions and lilies have completely declined in recent years. It should be the duty of all of us to put an end to the cruel treatment of nature and the plant world, to protect and reproduce natural resources.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazile Ural

The growing population of the world, which leads to increased production and consumption, result in an significent increase in solid wastes. This increase threatens environmental are human heath and harms the economics of countriesTo counteraction these negative outcomes, both the supply of wastes to the country's economy and the less use of natural resources can be considered. In this study, studies focus on the evaluation of industrial wastes in the geotechnical engineering are examined and discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 460-494
Author(s):  
Eugene Anderson ◽  
James Beattie

Empires throughout history have had an interdependent relationship with environment. They have, above all, been concerned with expanding wealth and power, usually through extending agriculture and timber-cutting, in addition to intensifying other forms of resource extraction. Competition over natural resources, and their more efficient exploitation, spread, and improvement, has driven imperial expansion over millennia, just as environmental degradation and disease sometimes have acted as brakes on such ambitions. Attitudes toward natural resources underwent change through resource commodification, a process which has accelerated over the last two hundred years, but which, as in the past, has not precluded wholly exploitative attitudes toward nature. Empires also connected and mobilized formerly geographically disparate people, organisms, and commodities around the world. And they utilized and facilitated the spread of technology, including that for exploiting natural resources, something especially evident through steam technology.


Author(s):  
Abiodun Elijah Obayelu

Food is indispensable to life. It plays an important role in the economy but what is not well known is the impact of production and consumption that food has on the environment. The nexus of food systems and the environment are complex and driven by many economic, socio-cultural, and environmental factors considered to be important in the contemporary global arena. As the world population grows, there is an increased demand on the already stretched food system and fragile environment. Processes along the food chain from agricultural production to food consumption produce outputs other than consumable food that are returned to the natural environment such as pollution or waste. This chapter sheds light on the links in food systems and environment in developing countries. A major finding is that the existing food systems that were supposed to produce adequate food for all are placing major stress on environmental assets including soil, water, fisheries, and biodiversity. For food systems to be sustainable, all hands must be on deck.


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